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    "num": 1,
    "slug": "00-weston-s-introduction-vol-i-front-matter",
    "title": "Weston's Introduction (Vol. I front matter)",
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    "words": 2616,
    "text": "## Weston's Introduction (Vol. I front matter)\n\n\nBOOKS I.-IX\n\nDigitized by v^.ooQle\n\nDigitized by v^.ooQle\n\nP A R Z I V A L\n\nA KNIGHTLY EPIC BY\n\nraioiftam toon tfgcljenbaclj\n\nFOR THE FIRST TIME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH\nTERSE FROM THE ORIGINAL GERMAN BY\n\nJESSIE L. WESTON^\n\n* A br wot mam yet slowly wist\nIs kt whom / kstU my hero l'—Bock /.\n\n‘ Ht whose li/e suck mm end doth gain\nThai his soul doth not forfeit hmmnfbr sins\nthat his flesh shall stain.\n\nAnd ytt , as true mam assd worthy, the worlds\nfavour assd grace doth keef.\n\nHath done well, nor hath lost his labour, nor\nhis fame shall hereafter sleep. '—Booh XVI.\n\nLONDON\n\nPUBLISHED by DAVID NUTT\nin the Strand\n\nEdinburgh: T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty\n\nDigitized by Google\n\nX\n\nTO THE MEMORY OF\n\nRICHARD WAGNER\n\nWHOSE GENIUS HAS GIVEN FRESH LIFE\nTO THE CREATIONS OF MEDIAEVAL ROMANCE\nTHIS TRANSLATION IS\nDEDICATED\n\nr* r\n\n%\n\nK ^ ,>\n\nDigitized by\n\nGoogle _\n\nDigitized by v^.ooQle\n\nCONTENTS\n\nBOOK\n\nINTRODUCTION\nI. GAMURET\nII. HERZELEIDE\nIIL GURNEMANZ\nIV. KONDWIRAMUR\nV. ANFORTAS .\nVI. ARTHUR\nVIL OBILOT\nVIII. ANTIKONIE .\n\nIX. TREVREZENT\nAPPENDICES\nNOTES\n\nPACK\n\nix\n\ni\n\n33 ?\n\n*57\n\nDigitized by v^.ooQle\n\nDigitized by\n\nGoogI\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nN presenting, for the first time, to English readers the\ngreatest work of Germany’s greatest mediaeval poet, a\nfew words of introduction, alike for poem and writer,\nmay not be out of place. The lapse of nearly seven\nhundred years, and the changes which the centuries\nhave worked, alike in language and in thought, would have naturally\noperated to render any work unfamiliar, still more so when that work\nwas composed in a foreign tongue; but, indeed, it is only within the\npresent century that the original text of the Parzival has been collated\nfrom the mss. and made accessible, even in its own land, to the\ngeneral reader. But the interest which is now felt by many in the\nArthurian romances, quickened into life doubtless by the genius of\nthe late Poet Laureate, and the fact that the greatest composer of\nour time, Richard Wagner, has selected this poem as the groundwork\nof that wonderful drama, which a growing consensus of opinion has\nhailed as the grandest artistic achievement of this century, seem to\nindicate that the time has come when the work of Wolfram von\n\nEschenbach may hope to receive, from a wider public than that of\nhis own day, the recognition which it so well deserves.\n\nOf the poet himself we know but little, save from the personal\nallusions scattered throughout his works; the dates of his birth and\ndeath are alike unrecorded, but the frequent notices of contemporary\nevents to be found in his poems enable us to fix with tolerable cer¬\ntainty the period of his literary activity, and to judge approximately the\n\noutline of his life. Wolfram’s greatest work, the Parzival , was appar¬\nently writteq within the early years of the thirteenth century; he\n\nDigitized by Google\n\nX\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nmakes constant allusions to events happening, and to works produced,\nwithin the first decade of that period; and as his latest work, the\nWillehalm , left unfinished, mentions as recent the death of the Land¬\ngrave Herman of Thuringia, which occurred in 1216, the probability\nseems to be that the Parzival was written within the first fifteen years\nof the thirteenth century. Inasmuch, too, as this work bears no traces\nof immaturity in thought or style, it is probable that the date of the\npoet’s birth cannot be placed much later than 1170.\n\nThe name, Wolfram von Eschenbach,. points to Eschenbach in\nBavaria as in all probability the place of his birth, as it certainly was\nof his burial. So late as the end of the seventeenth century his\ntomb, with inscription, was to be seen in the Frauen-kirche of Ober-\nEschenbach, and the fact that within a short distance of the town are\nto be found localities mentioned in his poems, such as Wildberg,\nAbenberg, Triihendingen, Wertheim, etc., seems to show that there,\ntoo, the life of the poet-knight was spent\n\nBy birth, as Wolfram himself tells us, he belonged to the knightly\norder (Zum Schildesamt bin Ich geboren), though whether his family\nwas noble or not is a disputed point, in any case Wolfram was a poor\nman, as the humorous allusions which he makes to his poverty abun¬\ndantly testify. Yet he does not seem to have led the life of a wander¬\ning singer, as did his famous contemporary, Walther von der Vogelweide;\nif Wolfram journeyed, as he probably did, it was rather in search of\nknightly adventures, he tells us: ‘ Durchstreifen muss Der Lande viel,\nWer Schildesamt verwalten will/ and though fully conscious of his\ngift of song, yet he systematically exalts his office of knight above that\nof poet. The period when Wolfram lived and sang, we cannot say\nwrote y for by his own confession he could neither read nor write (‘ I’ne\nkan decheinen buochstap/ he says in Parzival \\ and in Willehalnty\n‘Waz an den buochen steht geschrieben, Des bin Ich kunstelos\ngeblieben’), and his poems must, therefore, have been orally dictated,\nwas one peculiarly fitted to develop his special genius. Under the\nrule of the Hohenstaufen the institution of knighthood had reached\nits highest point of glory, and had not yet lapsed into the extravagant\n\nDigitized by\n\nGoogle\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nxi\n\nabsurdities and unrealities which characterised its period of decadence;\nand the Arthurian romances which first found shape in Northern\nFrance had just passed into Germany, there to be gladly welcomed,\nand to receive at the hands of German poets the impress of an\nethical and philosophical interpretation foreign to their original form.\n\nIt was in these romances that Wolfram, in common with other of\nhis contemporaries, found his chief inspiration; in the Parzival\\ his\nmaster-work, he has told again the story of the Quest for, and winning\nof, the Grail; told it in connection with the Perceval legend, through\nthe medium of which, it must be remembered, the spiritualising influ¬\nence of the Grail myth first came into contact with the brilliant\nchivalry and low morality of the original Arthurian romances; and told\nit in a manner that is as truly mediaeval in form as it is modern in\ninterpretation. The whole poem is instinct with the true knightly\nspirit; it has been well called Das Hohclied von Rittertum , the\nknightly spng of songs, for Wolfram has seized not merely the ex¬\nternal but the very soul of knighthood, even as described in our own\nday by another German poet; Wolfram’s ideal knight, in his fidelity\nto his plighted word, his noble charity towards his fellow-man, lord\nof the Grail, with Its civilising, humanising influence, is a veritable\n‘true knight of the Holy Ghost’ In a short introduction such as\nthis it is impossible to discuss with any fulness the fascinating pro¬\nblems connected with this poem, one can do no more than indicate\nwhere the principal difficulties lie. These may be briefly said to be\nchiefly connected with the source from which Wolfram derived his\npoem, and with the interpretation of its ethical meaning. That\nWolfram drew from a French source we know from his own state¬\n\nment, he quotes as his authority a certain ‘ Kiot the Proven9al,’ who,\nin his turn, found his information in an Arabian ms. at Toledo. Unfor¬\ntunately no such poet, and no such poem, are known to us, while we\ndo possess a French version of the story, Li Conte del Graal , by\nChrStien de Troyes, which, so far as the greater part of the poem\n\n(i.e. Books hi. to xm.) is concerned, shows a remarkable agreement\nnot only in sequence of incidents, but even in verbal correspondence,\n\nDigitized by Google\n\nxii\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nwith Wolfram’s work. Chretien, however, does not give either the\nfirst two or the last three books as we find them in Wolfram. The\naccount of Perceval’s father, and of his death, is by another hand than\nChretien’s, and does not agree with Wolfram’s account; and the\npoem, left unfinished by Chretien, has been continued and concluded\nat great length by at least three other writers, who have evidently\ndrawn from differing sources; whereas Wolfram’s conclusion agrees\nclosely with his introduction, and his whole poem forms the most\nharmonious and complete version of the story we possess. Wolfram\nknew Chretien’s poem, but refers to it with contempt as being the\nwrong version of the tale, whereas * Kiot ’ had told the venture aright.\nThe question then is, where did Wolfram really find those portions of\nhis poems which he could not have drawn from Chretien ? Is ‘ Kiot ’\na real, or a feigned, source ?\n\nSome German critics have opined that Wolfram really knew no\nother poem than Chretien’s, and that he boldly invented all that he\ndid not find there, feigning another source in order to conceal the fact\nOthers have maintained that whether ‘Kiot’ be the name of the\nwriter or n^t, Wolfram certainly had before him a French poem other\nthan Li Conte du Graal. m\n\nIt certainly seems in the highest degree improbable that a German\npoet should have introduced the Angevin element, lacking in Chretien;\nWolfram’s presentment of the Grail, too, differs in toto from any we\nfind elsewhere, with him it is not the cup of the Last Supper, but a\nprecious stone endowed with magical qualities. It is true that Chretien\ndoes not say what the Grail was, but simply that *du fin or esmeree\nestoit y pieres pressieuses avoit el graal de maintes maniereSy yet it seems\nscarcely likely that Wolfram should have interpreted this as a precious\nstone, to say nothing of sundry Oriental features peculiar to his descrip¬\ntion. But whence Wolfram derived his idea of the Grail is a problem\nwhich it is to be feared will never now be completely solved.\n\nThe discussion as to the ethical meaning Wolfram attached to the\nstory seems more hopeful of results, as here we do possess the requisite\ndata, and can study the poem for ourselves. The question between\n\nDigitized by v^.ooQle\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nxiii\n\nl\n\ncritics is whether Wolfram intended to teach a purely religious lesson ■\nor not; whether the poem is an allegory of life, and Parzival a symbol\nof the Soul of man, hovering between Faith and Doubt, perplexed by\nthe apparent injustice of God’s dealings with men, and finally fighting\nits way through the darkness of despair to the clear light of renewed\nfaith in God; or have we here a glorification of the knightly ideal ? ^\na declaration of the poet-knight’s belief that in loyal acceptance of, and\nobedience to, the dictates of the knightly order, salvation is to be won ?\nCan the true knight, even though he lack faith in God, yet by keeping\nintact his faith with man, by very loyalty and steadfastness of purpose,\nwin back the spiritual blessing forfeited by his youthful folly? Is\nParzival one of those at whose hands ‘the Kingdom of Heaven\nsuffereth violence ’ ? It may well be that both these interpretations are,\nin a measure, true, that Wolfram found the germ of the religious idea\nalready existing in his French source, but that to the genius of the\nGerman poet we owe that humanising of the ideal which has brought\nthe Parzival into harmony with the best aspirations of men in all\nages. This, at least, may be said with truth, that of all the romances\nof the Grail cycle, there is but one which can be presented, in its\nentirety, to the world of to-day with the conviction that its morality\nis as true, its human interest as real, its lesson as much needed now as\nit was seven hundred years ago, and that romance is the Parzival of\nWolfram von Eschenbach.\n\nSome words as to the form of the original poem; and the method\nfollowed in translation, may be of interest to the reader. The original\nParzival is a poem of some 25,000 lines, written in an irregular metre, \\\nevery two lines rhyming, rcim-paar. Among modern German trans¬\nlators considerable difference of opinion as to the best method of\nrendering the original appears to exist Simrock has retained the\noriginal form, and adheres very closely to the text; his version certainly\ngives the most accurate idea of Wolfram’s style; San Marte has allowed\nhimself considerable freedom in versification, and, unfortunately, also\n\nin translation; in fact, he too often gives a paraphrase rather than a\nreproduction of the text. Dr. Botticher’s translation omits the Gawain\n\nDigitized by Google\n\nXIV\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nepisodes, and, though dose to the original, has discarded rhyme. It\nmust be admitted that Wolfram is by no means easy to translate, his style\nis obscure and crabbed, and it is often difficult to interpret his meaning\nwith any certainty. The translator felt that the two points chiefly to\nbe aimed at in an English version were, that it should be faithful to\nthe original text, and easy to read. The metre selected was chosen for\nseveral reasons, principally on account of the length of the poem, which\nseemed to render desirable a more flowing measure than the short lines\nof the original; and because by selecting this metre it was possible to\nretain the original form of reim-paar\\ As a general rule one line of the\nEnglish version represents two of the German poem, but the difference\nof language has occasionally demanded expansion in order to do full\njustice to the poet’s meaning. Throughout, the translator’s aim has\nbeen to be as literal as possible, and where the differing conven¬\ntionalities of the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries have made a\nchange in the form of expression necessary, the meaning of the poet\nhas been reproduced, and in no instance has a different idea been\nconsciously suggested. That there must of necessity be many faults\nand defects in the work the writer is fully conscious, but in the absence\nof any previous English translation she can only hope that the present\nmay be accepted as a not altogether inadequate rendering of a great\noriginal; if it should encourage others to study that original for them¬\nselves, and learn to know Wolfram von Eschenbach, while at the same\ntime they learn better to understand Richard Wagner, she will feel\nherself fully repaid.\n\nThe translator feels that it may be well to mention here the wore'\nwhich have been principally relied on in preparing the English transla¬\ntion, and the writers to whom she is mostly indebted.\n\nFor the Text Bartsch’s edition of the original Parzival\\ published\nin Deutsche Classiker des Mittelalters, has been used throughout, in\nconnection with the modem German translation by Simrock.\n\nIn preparing the Notes use has been made of Dr. Botticher’s\nIntroduction to his translation of the Parzival\\ and the same writer’s\n\nDigitized by\n\nGoogle\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nXT\n\nj Das Hohelied von Ritterium; San Marte’s translation has also been\noccasionally referred to.\n\nThe Appendix on proper names has been mainly drawn up from\nBartach's article on the subject in Germanistische Studien; and that\non the Angevin allusions from Miss Norgate’s England under the\nAngevin Kings , though the statements have been verified by reference\nto the original chronicles.\n\nFor all questions connected with the Perceval legend in its varying\nforms the authority consulted has been Studies on the Legend of the\nHoly Grail, by Mr. Alfred Nutt, to whom, personally, the translator\nis indebted for much valuable advice and assistance in preparing this\nbook for publication.\n\nDigitized by v^.ooQle\n\nDigitized by v^.ooQle",
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